The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for applying various image processing to image data, an image processing method and an image processing program for use therein, and more particularly, relates to a technology for forming plural types of image data, to which different contents of image processing are applied, from the same image data as an original, and an image processing program for use therein.
Generally an apparatus, such as a digital copier, a scanner or a printer, is designed such that a user can variously set and change the color balance, contrast, sharpness and other attributes of the image to adjust to a desired image quality.
However, a few users can clearly recognize what image quality is achieved only by selecting the setup values. Thus, the user prints and outputs images with various setup values on a trial basis to visually confirm which setup value is required for the desired image quality.
When the above described test printing is individually carried out to different papers every time the setup value is changed, a large amount of paper resource is wastefully consumed, and the comparison itself of the images separately output to many papers requires a lot of time and work. Under these circumstances, there is proposed a sample copy that plural types of images with the setup values changed are output to a single paper all together.
Technologies that realizes the sample copy include a technology for repeatedly reading the same area of a document and changing the setup values of image processing for each reading (see, for example, Patent Document 1), and a technology for setting a plurality of portions within the document and applying different image processing for the individual portions (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Further, an apparatus is proposed for forming N-types of image data from the same image data, wherein the apparatus is provided with a memory for storing image data obtained by reading the document upstream, a reduction processing section and image processing circuits for carrying out the color adjustment and the like sequentially placed downstream thereof, and a memory further downstream thereof, thereby repeats N-times the operations of applying a reduction processing to the image data read out of the upstream memory, having the image data pass through the image processing circuits, and storing the image data in the downstream memory (see, for example, Patent Document 3). This apparatus is designed to be able to return the image data stored in the downstream memory to the upstream reduction processing section to apply again the image processing to the image data.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2638072
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. HEI 11-150648
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. HEI 8-251393
As disclosed in Patent Document 1, the technology for scanning the document many times requires a long period of time to complete a sample copy due to the longer time of reading. In addition, the hue and tone of the read image data itself may subtly vary in each scan.
As disclosed in Patent Document 2, the technology for applying different image processing to the individual portions set up in the document has a problem that it is difficult to compare the differences in the image processing effects as compared to the case of applying different image processing to the same portion.
As disclosed in Patent Document 3, the apparatus is provided with a memory for storing the image data obtained by reading a document upstream, a reduction processing section and image processing circuits placed downstream of the memory, and a memory for storing the image data having being processed further downstream thereof, in which the memories must be placed upstream and downstream respectively, thereby a lot of memories are required. Particularly, the upstream memory, which stores the image data before being reduced, consumes a large amount of memories. Further, it allows another image processing by returning the image data stored in the downstream memory to the upstream reduction processing section, however, the process contents are only the reduction and color adjustment, providing a few functions realizable, so that the sample copy has not been able to be formed with various items. Further, the image processing is applied to the image data after being reduced, so that the image quality in the sample copy and the image quality in the actual outputting are not precisely identical, and it may also happen that the sample copy does not serve as a test print.
Further, in the conventional technologies, the area of sample copy to be formed was limited to the entire document or a fixed area within the document, and a user could not arbitrarily designate its position and size within the document. Thus, the user could not form a sample copy in an optimum area according to each document, thereby sometimes had difficulty in comparing the differences in the image processing effects, or could not properly understand how the image of the area the user was interested in changed depending on the different setup values, even when forming the sample copy.